Okay, so I’ve been reading too many advice columns about how to get more attention for my blog (my number one New Year’s resolution). So in this one, I’m going to take pity on my readers with some great ideas of how to—at least on the wine front—make 2009 a memorable year.
A list seemed like a good idea so here are my seventeen tips for enjoying wine in 2009.
1. Make a short list of your favorite places to buy and drink wine (this should be easy). If you don’t have any ideas on this one then ask your wine loving friends. Don’t have any wine-loving friends? Maybe you need to start carrying a flask. Stick to it. Revise it. Update it regularly.
2. Throw out all of those preconceived notions about wine and price. Yes, you can still find good wine (or rather interesting wine) at cheap prices but you need to be plugged in to a retailer or three that you trust for these recommendations. And keep in mind, if you only buy a bottle at a time of really cheap wine from them you are probably not going to have your picture in their photo album of favorite customers. Come up with a monthly wine budget and divide it by the number of bottles you drink. Add the price of three bottles together every other week and splurge on a bottle in that price range. It will make you very happy to drink it.
3. Stop buying wine at places that you use the words “rip-off,” “convenient,” or other unflavorful comments. You wouldn’t get your haircut at a place that brought those words to mind, so why would it work for your wine choices?
4. Don’t buy more than two bottles of something that you haven’t tasted unless you really love the wine maker, are supporting a charity, or know someone who will take it off your hands if you don’t like it. Especially don’t buy a case of something for an important party or other event where you’re trying to make an impression unless you’re planning to end up without any friends. If you wouldn’t take a client to a restaurant that you had never tried, then don’t spring a bottle on them that you haven’t knowledge of unless you have a relationship where you can both say, “Let’s try this one.”
5. Try to refrain from using the word “easy” in your wine purchasing vocabulary. Buying gas at a local station or taking a taxi instead of walking is easy. Buying wine at the supermarket where you are limited to mainstream selections or wines of “no origin” (yes, two buck is in this category), will result in less satisfying wine choices. And (this should be obvious), try to stay away from wines that are thought of as “easy drinking”.
6. Remember the phrase palate fatigue. Yep, I’ve coined it. If you wouldn’t wear the same shirt to work five days in a row, then why drink the same wine everyday? Your brain will start to get numb to the pleasures of trying new things and you won’t know if the wine is any good if you don’t take a break and try new things.
7. Try to get over the idea that when you bring wine as a gift to your host you expect them to open it and serve it with dinner. Unless you’ve been asked to bring the wine for dinner, this is not correct etiquette. If someone has gone to the trouble to cook and invite people over for a meal, they probably have their wine selections worked out as well. If you are asked to bring the wine for dinner, ask the host what course they want to serve your selection with, how many people there will be, etc.
8. It’s okay to say that you don’t like a particular wine. It’s even okay to say that you don’t like it when it’s poured for you in a restaurant. That is what a sommelier is there for—go with their suggestion (they know the list) in your price range and you then are very much within your rights to say you don’t like it and request something else.
9. Don’t be shocked when you go to an expensive restaurant and they have a super expensive wine list. You wouldn’t expect to find a twenty-five dollar wallet in Gucci so why would you expect to find a twenty-five dollar wine in a three star restaurant. Since you can usually read a restaurant review—or even glance at the wine list on line before you dine—you can save yourself the shock by checking out your destination in advance.
10. Ask for the best glassware no matter what price range wine you’re drinking in a restaurant. Yes, the right glasses do make every wine taste better. It also won’t make you feel like you’re wearing a sign that says, “This table bought the cheapest wine in the house.”
11. Pick out a few wine blogs that you like the voice of the author and follow them for a few weeks. See if you get any suggestions from them that you can implement yourself. Or read one that writes about amazing wine experiences so that you can start writing your own “Things to Drink Before I Die” list.
12. Try to plan one unexpected experience a month, whether it’s trying and learning about a new varietal, or stepping up to a price range that is not in your daily budget. It will give you something to look forward to for your 2009 wine journey. It can also be more fun if you go on your own (the tendency at wine tastings is to sit and talk with your friends) connecting with a stranger over a glass of wine is what it’s all about.
13. Keep a bottle of wine next to where you cook to have a bit while you’re cooking or to throw into what you’re making. A taste test was done earlier this year that showed that it wasn’t the most expensive bottle that tasted the best in a dish cooked with wine but rather something that wasn’t particularly distinctive. I re-cork all of the bottles that I think are mediocre immediately and plan to use them in cooking that day or the next.
14. Clean out your refrigerator on Sunday and Thursday a.m. No, I’m not kidding with this one. Throw out all of the bottles of opened wine that are in there. Yes, all of them. Unless it’s a sparkling, more than a few days in the refrigerator and they are done. Fini. Over.
15. Treat yourself to a simple wine tote for BYOB. Yes, I know. Restaurants don’t like customers who bring their own wine but the reality of the situation is that they’d rather have you eat there with a bottle of wine then have empty tables. If you have a favorite restaurant, ask them if they have a BYOB night where they waive the corkage and the room will have other diners who have brought their own wine too.
16. If you do take your wine seriously or want to start collecting (or trying more expensive wines then you might buy on a daily or weekly basis) then see if your local favorite retailer has a wine registry service. Tell your friends and family when it’s your birthday or other occasion for gifting that you’re registered there so they can buy you some of the wines you’ve been dying to try. You can also register for your favorite glassware, the wine frig you’ve been wanting—remember this is the year that we all start being more practical about the things we buy, give, or get.
17. Can this be the last suggestion already? Well, then it’s the best one. Find a friend who wants to learn about wine this year, or inversely, glam onto one of your wine loving friends if you want to expand your horizons. There’s plenty of tasting ahead.
Wishing you and yours a full glass this year.
Photo courtesy of Women and Wine